Rules of the Game
by YamiJessi
Summary: Chocolate covered strawberries, friendships, and laughter. Everything's a game if you look at it the right way. AtemxJou yaoi pairing implied.


This was a request Fic from Draco on LJ

Pairing: Atem/Jou (though with that line you gave me it's almost Yuugi/Jou too. XD)  
Line: 'With a dedication to friends with everything locked up, who knows what your host's own feelings will spur inside you?' (Sorry Fred, had to change 'knows' to 'knew' to fit the fic's verb tense. Hope you don't mind. )  
Words: 1356 (yeah…I went way…way over the limit, I know. groans)

Disclaimer: No...I don't own Yugioh...did you really have to ask that? laughs

* * *

After it was all said and done, when they both were sitting side by side, deep crimson and honey-brown met with something new and strange burning in those eyes.  
While neither could actually recall the exact moment that the world had turned upside down, both knew that it had done so in the more than just the literal sense. 

It was hardly Jou's fault, after all, that his dear friend Yuugi just happened to be sitting bright-eyed on the sofa with the box in his lap when he had decided to stop in unannounced. And since friends were supposed to do the right thing and share the blonde found it perfectly fair to sink down on the sofa with a boneless flop and inquire about the box.  
Yuugi, being eager as always, launched into a lengthy story about how the box had been left in his locker by someone. Jou did not even bother to wonder who, the suspicion that a certain blue-eyed female came to mind, and he honestly did not care much at the moment. After all, it was far more important to help his friend deal with the box's contents.  
The smaller teen had not protested, offering the sticky chocolate covered berries to his best friend, and Jou was reminded once more why it was that Yuugi was such a nice guy.

That went well enough, until the other one decided to show up.

The voice that had been rambling shifted tone and Jou found himself regarding the dark eyes of the other being that a few had taken to calling Pharaoh. He was certain the guy had a name, but if anybody knew it nobody had told him yet.  
The blonde realized that the dynamics of the moment had changed in an instant, and suddenly the prospects of freeloading Yuugi's candy seemed very grim indeed.  
It was not that Yuugi's other self was cold; it was more that the odd youth was driven by something that Jou had yet to figure out. So it did not surprise him at all when the warm smile was replaced by that almost mysterious expression that Atem sported often.

It was then that the simple task of sitting on the couch eating became an outlandish sort of game and for a time the blonde was willing to play along, just as he always did.

The encounters changed but the rules to playing never did, they had been much the same since the beginning when it started to be more than cards and monsters. Now it was pushing limits and skirting inches closer to something new with each turn. The rules were unspoken but understood by both; never push too far, never let your next move show, never forfeit.

Atem began, he always did. And this time with an elaborate show of plucking one of the strawberries from the box to study it and the slick coating of candy that reflected across the surface before he flicked the treat into his mouth with a satisfied smile. Jou watched the first few times, not sure just what the other male was up to, until he discovered that unless he made some move to act then he would not be able to steal any of that candy back.  
So he did the most logical thing, he jumped playfully at the other male.  
What he did not count on was how swift the thin teen was, nor quite how fast he could slip right out from under that grasp. Then it was back to that silent glint of humor in those crimson eyes while Jou tried to recover and rethink his strategy. His opponent was apparently enjoying the odd game a great deal, about as much as he seemed to be enjoying the candy that the blonde watched slowly disappear.

Mild frustration began to grow in the taller male as he realized he was being upstaged in a simple game of catch, even if the object he was trying to chase down was a particularly shifty male thousands of years his elder and probably twice as engrossed in the task.

Jou noted that the box looked empty finally, and at last the Pharaoh tossed it aside and held up a single berry. That was the last turn for the blonde, his determination increased and he lunged quickly.  
Only this time the other youth did not try to move.  
And the end result was a crash of bodies and an entertained laugh in that distinctly hued voice that could only belong to Atem. Jou was, for his part, dumbfounded for a second and in that span of time he found the world had turned upside down and he was on the losing end of that motion.

Then the floor rushed up to meet him and the sound of a thinner body landing nearby told him that he was not the only one caught off guard by the loss of balance.  
He was greeted by laughter but not the mocking sort, it was a humored utter as the other male sat back up slowly.

"You look awfully dejected there."

The other teen snorted softly, when playing games with Atem it was best to never let him think he had the upper hand. "..yeah, well…I wouldn't **be** down here if ya didn't have some weird thing for messin' wi'people."  
"I have no such interest Jou, where do you get those sort of ideas." The fake show of innocent intent was so badly done that it must have been on purpose and the blonde had to admit defeat, but could not help but try to laugh. It might not have been comical but for the fact that it was difficult to laugh when one was lying on their face. Though Jou tried to anyway with mixed results, a sort of choked and broken sniffle that made the scarlet gaze inches from his own shut in amusement.  
"…shut up, s'not that funny." the words came out sounding thrown together and equally muffled while Jou made an effort to sit back up, aiding suddenly by a pair of nimble hands across his shoulders to steady his movements. Hands that lingered long enough to leave faint sensations of heat across skin hidden under thin fabric.

And that brought him back to the present where he sat looking at twin pools of red with fascination, not simply because of the silly game but because it had been played. Not solely for the funny moment but the act of the challenge involved in it. There was that bright hint in those eyes, with Atem everything was always a test to see who was the victor, to see who had at last won. And for his part Atem could only watch golden-brown eyes flicker with thought and smile, his most worthy adversary held such strange whims. At first he considered it some mirror of Yuugi's personality seeping into his own that made him think such. With a dedication to friends with everything locked up, who knew what your host's own feelings will spur inside you? Then it had been the small things that had changed him, the pointless diversions that Jou was happy enough to join him in, those had been the things that the Pharaoh had finally decided made the younger male his match in many things. This small trial had been all in jest but it was the look in the other's eyes that made Atem nervous, that expression was too serious.

Had he pushed the play too far, had he broken the rules he had made himself? He could sense a shift in the careful balance, could see a reassessment of many things in that golden gaze.

A sudden jolt of worry hit him, put there by the intensity of the blonde's stare, and he found himself almost holding his breath when the other spoke.

"…..I'm still telling' Yuug' ya ate his candy."

The only answer Jou received was the ring of laughter that was contagious and he could not help but smile too.  
It seemed the game was still being played, even if the rules had changed.


End file.
